The Bay Area is about to get a taste of Chicago favorite (and Eater Chicago 38 member) Honey Butter Fried Chicken. From Thursday, November 9 through Sunday, November 12, food delivery service Caviar will send Honey Butter orders all over the East Bay from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Food will also be available for pick up from the local source: Forage Kitchen in Oakland, a food incubator space where Caviar has set up a commissary kitchen for this and other pop-up purposes.

Honey Butter’s signature, as the name suggests, is fried chicken served with a “big ol’ dollop of honey butter.” Chefs/co-owners Christine Cikowski and Joshua Kulp started their business as a supper club, expanding in 2013 to a brick and mortar location. Honey Butter also delivers through Caviar in Chicago, where it’s one of the city’s most popular restaurants for Caviar delivery. The whole delivery menu, including sides like pimento mac and cheese and waffle fries, is here.

The Oakland Honey Butter pop-up is just the latest in a series of cross-city delivery experiments from Caviar. SF souvlaki phenomenon Souvla, which operates three locations in the city, was the first to use to use Forage Kitchen space under the auspices of Caviar, testing the waters on the other side of the bay during a busy four-day run in August. After that, Caviar gave Souvla a shot delivering to NYC diners last month. The results exceeded expectations: Souvla sold out in 15 minutes, and the SF team had to overnight “emergency pitas” to NY.

“This is a great way for restaurants to test new markets,” Katie Dally, a spokesperson for Caviar owner Square, told Eater SF by email. She praises Forage Kitchen’s wonderful space that’s “highly convenient for both diners and couriers,” and hints that Caviar could rely on similar hubs for more experiments in SF and other cities.

Souvla doesn’t have immediate plans for an extended NY stay, but for others with expansion aspirations, it’s a way to start building a customer base. SF’s 4505 Burgers & BBQ, for example, has committed to an Oakland expansion, but their space has been delayed until next spring. To get things going, they started delivering to Oakland through Caviar last month.

I had to end my previous post prematurely. Here's my review of Beth's Burger Bar:

Great atmosphere. Kind of a fancier Five Guys, but in the same market as Five Guys, as opposed to, say, BurgerFi. So Beth's prices are comparative to Five Guys.

Anyway, the fries and onion rings are great. The fries seem to have a sort of batter around them not dissimilar to Checkers/Rally's.

As for the burger, the bun was great, much better than the typical, soggy slop that a Five Guys bun quickly becomes. But, I felt that the patty itself was kind of lost in everything, and therefore underwhelming.

So, my number 1 chain burger rank still goes to Five Guys, with BurgerFi's CEO burger as a close second.

I've rubbed a pork shoulder, marinated it overnight, seared it at 500 for 15 minutes and am now slow cooking it at 250 for the next 5-6 hours for pulled pork. I'm making a vegetarian posole to go with it and taking it over to dinner with friends tonight. Never done the pork shoulder before, so could be a huge flop.

@Rylo Ken Was that pulled pork a success, and if yes can I please have the recipe? I have a pork leg in the freezer that wants to be eaten by the end of the week, and I have access to a wood stove right now. That's three elements that sound like a combination begging to happen

@Rylo Ken Was that pulled pork a success, and if yes can I please have the recipe? I have a pork leg in the freezer that wants to be eaten by the end of the week, and I have access to a wood stove right now. That's three elements that sound like a combination begging to happen

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I made a rub with paprika, crushed garlic, some brown sugar, coarse salt, a bit of cayenne, dry mustard, pepper. rubbed it on a 7 lb pork shoulder, wrapped it and stuck it in the fridge overnight. Next morning, heated the oven to 500 F and stuck the shoulder, fat side up, in a roasting pan walled on four sides with foil for a sort of open tent, for 15 minutes, allowing the fat to sear and drip into the roast. Turned the oven down to 250 F and let it roast for about 6 hours. Pulled the shoulder out, let it sit for 20 minutes, heated the oven back up and did a final sear at 500 for 15 minutes at the end.

This is just a random combination of the competing advice the two guys at the butcher shop gave me. Synthesized in this way for no good reason. But somehow it worked out. Also you can save the juice from the pan, boil it down a bit and skim off the fat, then pour it back over the pork after you've pulled it if you like the meat juicy.

It's a private kitchen, so you need to book well in advance, but my god the food is worth it.

Basically the painter Wang Hai, set up this place where his art adorns the wall and he's the maitre'd. He's an accidental Chinese hipster. His wife, Wang Xiao Qiang, runs the kitchen. It's a fixed menu of 11 Si Chuan dishes, and then Ms Wang will come out and sing Chinese opera at the end of your course.

This was me there in 2005, first time I went. We'd done about 4-5 martinis at Eyebar (I think, I had to Google it so it could be different) then gone over to Dragon-i in Central for a few more drinks. By the time 8pm hit, we were tipsy as all get out and just had beer with the meal. The food gets hotter through the mid course, so more beer was needed, hence: